For years, the UFC’s end-of-night performance bonuses have rewarded fighters for outstanding battles and finishes in the Octagon, as well as given fans a metric to determine which fighters are the most consistently entertaining. But now that moreandmore fighters are publicly coming out to blast the promotion’s pay scale, UFC president Dana White says he’s thinking about ending the practice altogether, and using that money instead to bump the guaranteed salaries of lower-tier fighter. As he explained to media yesterday:

“The bonuses were something we’ve been doing out of the kindnesses of our (expletive) hearts,” White said. “That’s not something that was ever done or structured. We started doing it and that was it. It was something we liked to do, thought it was a cool thing to do. Apparently people don’t like it. They want the lower-level guys to get paid more money.”

Asked to clarify if this was really a move the promotion could make in the not-so-distant future, White answered emphatically.

“(Expletive) yeah, it could happen,” White said. “That’s what I’m thinking about doing. All the (expletive) lower-level guys think they need their money boosted. Everyone thinks it’s not enough money, so that’s easy to do.”

This, of course, is nothing more than a transparent bluff, on par with your father threatening to “turn this car around, goddamnit!” 30 minutes into a family road trip. Now that Dana has suggested that the UFC will transform its pay structure — sacrificing those $50,000 end-of-night awards to fatten the paychecks of prospects — here’s what he expects will happen next:

- The lower-level fighters who actually stand to benefit from this pay-restructuring are going to have a change of heart, once they realize that there’s no possibility of earning a life-changing amount of money in a single fight. Right now, a newbie like James Krause can step into the Octagon for the first time and leave $100,000 richer. Under DW’s new proposed system, an $8k/$8k fighter might begin to earn a living wage, but those jackpot days would be over.

Either way, Dana’s betting that a lot of his contracted fighters will start to cry out, “No, no, we liked things the way they were, PLEASE DON’T TAKE AWAY OUR BONUSES DADDY!!!”

Again, that’s what Dana hopes will happen. But look, he’s not really going to eliminate end-of-night bonuses; it’s just a publicity stunt to keep the loud-mouths in line. What makes this threat so aggravating is that it’s based on such an obvious false choice: Low guaranteed money with the possibility of end-of-night bonuses, or higher guaranteed money with no possibility of end-of-night bonuses — pick your poison.

The thing is, there are other ways to fix the UFC’s pay structure that don’t involve eliminating those $50,000 bumps that everybody loves so much. For example, the UFC could do one of the following things for all new contracted fighters, going forward:

- Keep FOTN/KOTN/SOTN bonuses, but eliminate win bonuses: Nearly all UFC fighters double their show-money by winning. This financial arrangement is apparently designed as an incentive for UFC fighters to fight hard and try to pull out a victory until the bitter end. But winning fights in the UFC and advancing up the ladder are major incentives in themselves. So instead of those win bonuses making UFC fighters push harder, the fighters became aware that half of their potential payday is based on winning the match. And so, safe-fighting was born; win each round in the most risk-averse way possible, and double your money when the last bell sounds. One solution to this problem would be giving all new fighters a flat fee for showing up and fighting, which would be higher than their show money under the existing structure. Therefore, new prospects get paid more in guaranteed money, and there would be no incentive just for winning — but those incentives for entertaining performances would still remain.

- Put the fighters on salary: Can you imagine only getting 2-4 paychecks a year? It’s hard to plan for the future when you don’t know when the money’s coming in, or exactly how much it will be. So what if the UFC signed new prospects to an annual contract that paid them twice a month like regular working folks? Even if the money still isn’t fantastic — today’s $8k/$8k fighters might instead start off with a $40k/year salary in this scenario — it would give the lower-tier fighters some semblance of a normal life, and the stability they need to continue living as fighters.

Cagepotato Comments

Showing 1-25 of comments

The UFC could start a social insurance program and issue lower level fighters vouchers for milk, cheese, and top ramen.

ohmyrage- July 2, 2013 at 4:50 pm

I agree, get rid of the "win bonus" and replace with Finish bonuses and dominating performance bonus

No one wants to watch a guy dominate the first 2 rounds then just sit back and try and survive and try not to lose, rather than win, and double his pay to the fans detriment

CheckHisPee- July 2, 2013 at 4:23 pm

I've got an idea Dana. How about you just pay the little guys more? I'm quite sure this isn't an 'either/or' scenario.

The12ozCurls- July 2, 2013 at 11:57 am

I think all the fighters should quit the UFC and start making real money like the spammers in the CP comment section.

TheJimSkillet- July 2, 2013 at 11:50 am

40k a year is not a lot of money for someone working at the premier company in the sport. The real problem with salaried employees is the are, in fact, employees. As it stands right now all of the fighters are "subcontractor" meaning the ufc doesn't have to carry workers comp, take out taxes, or legally at least provide any benifits of any kind. Making these guys employees would change the entire buisness model of the ufc. The one thing I would say to fighters who are up and coming is find ways to increase your value and lower your training costs. If I recall correctly mr. army ranger suggested that his expenses for training exceed 50% of his income. There is most of your problem

Get Off Me- July 2, 2013 at 11:44 am

Keep Win Bonuses, offer 10k to any fighter who finishes a fight, drop FOTN, SOTN and KOTN to 40k. This way a entry level fight can make north of 20k/fight provided he wins and finishes the fight. It rewards fighters who look to finish fights and keeps the fighters who are making decent money happy(with win bonuses). Fighters just starting out need the extra cash to quit their day jobs and focus on fighting so as to yield better fights for the audience.

@shifty Agreed with salary promoting stagnant fighters, but the fact that most of these lower card fighters work other jobs is counter productive to the quality of fighter UFC offers as opposed to the competition. Being in the UFC should mean you are a full time fighter is where the company should strive to be.

Shifty-Eyed Dog- July 2, 2013 at 10:55 am

You cant put a fighter on salary because then he has no incentive to actually fight. Oh sorry... Im injured again! Maybe next time. Now wheres my weekly paycheck?

also.. $40k for the lowest, entry level fighter?!? HELL no. Why should a nobody starting out make more than half the jobs in the rest of the country?

google- July 2, 2013 at 10:31 am

How about money in the bank ladder matches? Seems to make the guys in the WWE fight like crazy for it, and i have never seen a Money in the bank ladder match go to decision.

danomite- July 2, 2013 at 10:23 am

I say we have one of those money tornado machines sitting next to the octagon, filled with 1's, 20's, 50's, and 100's. Winner gets to go first and has one minute to grab as much cash as he can stuff into his official Corn-Nuts nutsack, "the only snack with the sack big enough for the UFC". After he's finished, the loser has 30 seconds to go for the remaining money. If you are too unconscious to enter the machine, you forfeit your money.

For the women, after the fight they will each get a chance to do a striptease in the octagon while the audience gets to throw wadded up dollar bills at them. They get to keep all the money they can pick up off the octagon floor after they're finished.

algiersheadkick504- July 2, 2013 at 10:17 am

I bet its been months since Dana even talked to his wife

SquirrelBoy- July 2, 2013 at 10:15 am

Even better. Stop gouging the companies that sponsor fighters for money. That way the little guys that no one knows about can get sponsors easier and get more money from them.